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PROJECT BACKGROUND

The growth of tourism in coastal areas which has reached

its peak in recent decades, exerts pressures on environmental

and cultural resources of the coastal areas, and affects nega-

tively social, economic and cultural patterns of tourist destina-

tions. Despite of the still prevailing growth trends, those who

manage and invest in tourism are increasingly aware that its

sustainability in coastal areas is strongly dependent upon the

quality of this particularly fragile environment.

In addition, todays tourists seek for a variety of experienc-

es in a well-preserved and distinctive natural environment. At

the same time people living in traditional tourist destinations

are increasingly aware of and concerned for their natural, his-

toric and cultural heritage. Therefore, there is a need to mini-

mise tourism-induced problems and secure both sustainabil-

ity of tourism industry and coastal resources used by other

sectors. In this respect increased attention must be given to

proper planning and better integration of tourism in coastal

development.

Within the last 10 years various efforts have been made

to integrate sustainability in coastal zone development. The

Priority Actions Programme/Regional Activity Centre (PAP/

RAC) and UNEP elaborated and assembled a set of principles

and methodology for the sustainable management of coastal

zones within an integrated coastal zone management ap-

proach (ICZM, also known as ICAM, Integrated Coastal Area

Management).

UNEP, the European Union, and other international or-

ganizations (FAO, OECD, and the coastal union-EUCC) fully

support the principles of ICZM because its methodological

framework is perceived as the most appropriate for the de-

velopment and the management of coastal zones. It aims a

comprehensive understanding of the relationships between

coastal resources, their uses, and the mutual impacts of

development on the economy and the environment. ICZM

methodology focuses on facilitating horizontal and vertical di-

alogue through participatory processes, and on agreements

and compromises between all parties involved in the use

of coastal resources. For more information about the ICZM

methodology: www.pap-thecoastcentre.org

NEED FOR PLANNING

Although there are no reliable data on coastal tourism

alone, it is generally considered to be one of the fastest

growing forms of tourism in the past decades. The World

Tourism Organisation (WTO) statistics show that 12 of the

15 worlds top destination countries in 2000 were countries

with coastlines.The coastal zone is an area of intense activity, an area of

interchange within and between physical, biological, social,

cultural and economic processes. Any changes generate

chain reactions usually in different systems whose environ-

mental conditions will be subsequently altered. An effective

management of coastal areas should be based not only on

an analysis of individual activities and their impacts, but also

on the combined effects of sectoral activities on each other

and on coastal resources.

In order to minimise tourism-induced problems and se-

cure both sustainability of tourism industry and coastal re-sources in relation also to other sectors, increased attention

must be given to proper planning and better integration of

tourism in coastal development.

Negative impacts and conflicts are due mainly to in-

comprehension of coastal environment and inadequate

planning. This means that better knowledge of physical

and biological environments of coastal zones, identification

of existing and potential uses, assessment of their mutual

compatibility and their individual compatibility with the en-

vironment, and finally, development of integrated strate-

HANDBOOK ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

IN COASTAL ZONES: THE ICZM APPROACH

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OBJECTIVE

The main objective of the project is to promote sustaina-

ble use of resources in coastal areas by focusing on sustain-

able tourism planning and management. More specifically,

the project aims at:

Contributing to the conservation of biodiversity of

coastal areas

Promoting the participatory management approach

among the operational stakeholders in the tourism

sector

Enriching the operational capacity of institutions

and people dealing with tourism development and/

or coastal area management, in the tourism private

sector and at the local authorities/governments level

Raising awareness about the importance of sustain-

ability and integrated management in the planning

and management of tourism activities in coastal ar-

eas

This project is one of the first attempts to use the ICZM

framework for a specific sector and to create a practical

manual to be used by planners and managers. The efficient

implementation of the Mediterranean ICZM Protocol (the rati-

fication process is on-going in several countries) will require

the availability of such kind of documents.

OBJECTIVE

This project has reviewed existing planning mechanisms

on the assessment of the modalities of tourism developments

and of the variety of stakeholders involved. This assessmenthas aimed at the elaboration of a methodology that uses the

ICZM principles for the sustainable development of tourism

activities in coastal areas.

On this basis, a step by step implementation guide has

been created to be used on the field for the implementa-

tion of the methodology and is based on a series of to-do

cards. This guide will be available in hard-copy and electron-

ic format.

The pilot project has been implemented in Split, Croatia

with the objective of testing the applicability of the developedframework in the pilot destination.

The guide dissemination is been made through capacity

building seminars in the Mediterranean region and largely

distributed to the participants of the Destinations Project

workshops in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

MAIN ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS

PARTNERS

The project Sustainable Coastal Tourism: The Integrat-ed Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Approach is being

developed by UNEP in collaboration with UNEP/PAP/RAC,

the pioneers of the work on ICZM. The pilot implementation

of the project will take place in Croatia with the cooperation

of the Croatian Ministry of Tourism, UNDP, and a local NGO.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

Helena Rey de AssisUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeDivision of Technology, Industry & EconomicsSustainable Consumption & Production Branch15 rue de Milan; 75441 Paris Cedex 09; FranceTel: +33 144371450; Fax: +33 1 4437 1474E-mail: tourism@unep.fr

gies and plans, offer a good solution for a more socially,

environmentally and economically sound development.

One of the greatest challenges faced by coastal man-

agers is giving tourism development a proper place within

the integrated coastal management in order to increase its

long-term sustainability. Therefore, in planning tourism de-

velopment, it is of utmost importance to focus on proper di-

mensioning of tourism growth with regard to the capacity of

local systems. To this end, proper tools must be offered to

decision-makers that need to have a clear idea of possible

tourism pressures and ways to respond to these pressures.